Factory Girls

by Michelle Gallen Narrated by Amy Molloy

Overview

A funny, fierce, and unforgettable read about a young woman working a summer job in a shirt factory in Northern Ireland, while tensions rise both inside and outside the factory walls.

It's the summer of 1994, and all Maeve Murray wants are good final exam results so she can earn her ticket out of the wee Northern Irish town she has grown up in during the Troubles-away from her crowded home, the silence and sadness surrounding her sister's death, and most of all, away from the simmering violence of *her *divided *community. *And *as *a *first *step, *Maeve's *taken *a *summer *job *in *a *local *shirt *factory *working *alongside *Protestants *with *her *best *friends, *kind, *innocent Caroline Jackson and privileged and clever Aoife O'Neill. But getting the right exam results is only part of Maeve's problem-she's got to survive a tit-for-tat paramilitary campaign, iron 100 shirts an hour all day every day, and deal with the attentions of Andy Strawbridge, her slick and untrustworthy English boss. What seems *to *be *a *great *opportunity *to *earn *money *before *starting *university *turns *out to be a crucible in which Maeve is tested in ways she may not be equipped to handle. Seeking justice for herself and her fellow workers may just be Maeve's one-way ticket out of town.

Bitingly *hilarious, *perceptive, *and *steeped *in *the *vernacular *of *its *time *and *place, Factory Girls is perfect for fans of voice-driven stories with bite, humor, and realism, such as the Netflix series Derry Girls and novels by Douglas Stuart, Roddy Doyle, and Anna Burns.*

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

[H]ilariously frank… This reads like a darker, often tougher version of Lisa McGee’s TV series Derry Girls, but with the same heart of gold.” —Ron Charles, Washington Post

 
“Factory Girls is full of the stuff that we're starting to expect of Michelle Gallen; wild, hilariously angry characters, and language that is vital, bang-on, and seriously funny."—Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha and Love

“Michelle Gallen's Factory Girls pulses with dark, irreverent humor. Set in a place where dreams are laughable at best, dangerous at worst, it's a big F you to the only world these characters know. And yet, there's vulnerability here. Hope, too. I loved it."—Mary Beth Keane, New York Times bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes

“This novel is a wonder; the heroine is cheeky, the humor dark, the dialect thick, the sorrow palpable.”—Library Journal, starred review

“Gallen fluidly juxtaposes the pedestrian worries of small-town life against the Troubles of the mid-1990s… For fans of Derry Girls and the plucky heroines of Marian Keyes.”—Booklist, starred review

"A blistering comedy."—People Magazine

“Fans of Derry Girls will enjoy the snarky, smart-mouthed Maeve, as well as her friends Caroline and Aoife, as they wittily navigate the working world and life complications that come with entering adulthood.”—Buzzfeed

“This novel is as hilarious as it is heartbreaking: not to be missed.”—Shelf Awareness

“A sharp chronicle of the coming-of-age of three Catholic teenage girls during the waning days of the Troubles…. This is lovely.”—Publishers Weekly

“Gallen walks her narrative tightrope perfectly, balancing within Maeve's first-person account a story grounded in the horrific realities around her with the more ordinary — but still impactful, both to the protagonist and to readers — pains of growing up and of seeing one's girlhood fading rapidly away… Factory Girls is about the girls — Maeve and her friends, the women in the factory, Maeve's mother, even the memory of Maeve's sister Deirdre — and Gallen paints each of them with the subtle tenderness only a mouthy, whip-smart narrator could manage.”—BookBrowse

“For fans of the recent Netflix hit Derry Girls comes the darkly humorous Factory Girls… A perfect blend of irreverence and heart.”—Chicago Review of Books

“A wee novel with an enormous, furious heart, Factory Girls transported me into Maeve's world. You can almost taste the tension and claustrophobia as Gallen effortlessly captures the stories of young women teetering between stasis and escape. Honest, hilarious and such a recognisable portrait of 90s Northern Ireland, Factory Girls is an essential read."—Jan Carson, author of The Raptures

 “Gallen manages to take a dark and violent period in history and turn it into one of the most moving and hilarious novels I have ever read. The rich cast of characters will break your heart and make you laugh out loud, sometimes within the same paragraph. I found it difficult to put this book down; while reading it the rest of the world fell away and I was transported to Northern Ireland via an unforgettable voice and a steadily boiling story of friendship, grief, and determination. Factory Girls is one of the best books ever written about The Troubles, and one of the best books I've read in a very long time."
 —Silas House, author of Southernmost and Lark Ascending

“Brilliantly observed and full of heart, Factory Girls will definitely be up there on my list of best books for this year."—Sheila O’Flanagan, bestselling author of What Eden Did Next

“Factory Girls tells its story in capital letters, Gallen’s comic, insightful novel of young women growing up in a northwest border town [is] a relentless, entertaining and sometimes uncomfortable read . . . With a clear eye for the compromises and hypocrisies this condition of living creates, Gallen has written an original and compelling book that describes a pre-ceasefire society that is both distant and familiar."—Irish Times

“A cracking, confident follow-up: at times savagely funny, but with a loamy undertow of complex feeling . . . the highlights are . . . its deft characterization, observational humour and cracking dialogue . . . this entertaining, touching novel should also appeal to fans of contemporary authors such as Lisa McInerney, Louise Kennedy and Roddy Doyle."—The Sunday Times (UK)

“Street-smart, ballsy and bold . . . The world of Factory Girls is filtered through her darkly witty mind, but it’s also punctuated by shocking and sudden violence . . . Gallen’s pen draws blood with the sharpness of her observations, rendering a fresh and acutely more complex portrait of Northern Ireland through Maeve’s eyes. Gallen asks, what can one young woman do with hope? Maeve Murray answers . . . Brilliantly, wickedly funny and soul-crushingly sad, Gallen has written the Vienetta of books this summer."—Irish Independent

“This short, punchy novel... pairs well with the recently published Trespasses by Louise Kennedy.”—Political Violence at a Glance, "Best of 2022: Fiction and Graphic Novel Edition"

“Michelle Gallen breathes new life into Troubles literature.”—Ploughshares

Fall & Winter Preview: 30 Books to Have on Your Radar —We Are Bookish

“Remarkable… This novel is so funny, rife with amusing slang, dry Northern Irish wit and Maeve’s bluster that when the emotional themes Gallen has carefully constructed from the outset wallop the reader with their full revelation, it hits like a sucker punch.”—America Magazine

“A great read if you’ve already finished Season 3 of Derry Girls.”—Arlington Magazine

“Gallen, who grew up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, reconstructs this era vividly. Her characters speak in dialect, but, more importantly, their understanding of the world is shaped by their experience of the Troubles... Gallen’s mastery of her protagonist’s psychology renders this muddle comprehensible, sympathetic, and, above all, funny. Truly humorous novels are hard to come by, but Gallen’s writing is full of genuine bite… A sensationally entertaining novel that’s deeper than it first appears.”—Kirkus, starred review

New York Times bestselling author Roddy Doyle

Wild, hilariously angry characters, and language that is vital, bang-on, and seriously funny."

Library Journal

★ 08/01/2022

It's 1994, just before the Irish peace agreement, and 18-year-old Maeve Murray is waiting for her life to begin. More specifically, she is awaiting exam results that will confirm her acceptance to university and provide an escape from her Northern Ireland hometown and the violence endemic of the times. She will also leave behind her family, still grieving the tragic death of her older sister. So Maeve considers herself fortunate when she and her two best friends land summer jobs at a shirt factory and find cheap lodging across the street. The work is grueling, as Maeve is assigned to the ironing station where she is on her feet steam-pressing hundreds of shirts a day. But the pay will help fund her university expenses, and the summer will open the girls' eyes to the other side of the conflict and to the dodgy business practices condoned by both sides. VERDICT From the author of Big Girl, Small Town, this novel is a wonder; the heroine is cheeky, the humor dark, the dialect thick, the sorrow palpable. Fans of Kenneth Branagh's Belfast and television's Derry Girls will find much to love.—Barbara Love

JANUARY 2023 - AudioFile

The lyrical cadence of Amy Molloy’s accent paired with Irish vernacular transports listeners to Northern Ireland in 1994, when tensions between Catholics and Protestants ran high. At the start of the summer, Maeve and her friends get their first jobs at a shirt factory. Maeve’s goal is to save money as she awaits her final exam results. Then, she’ll leave her small town, and the sadness surrounding her sister’s death, and go to London, where she dreams of studying journalism. Molloy gives Maeve’s friends distinct voices that match their personalities, and she enhances the complexity of Maeve’s mother by giving her both harsh and tender tones. The frequent countdown to exam results creates dramatic tension. The story is often hilarious, but violence is brought to the forefront in tragic flashbacks. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2023 - AudioFile

The lyrical cadence of Amy Molloy’s accent paired with Irish vernacular transports listeners to Northern Ireland in 1994, when tensions between Catholics and Protestants ran high. At the start of the summer, Maeve and her friends get their first jobs at a shirt factory. Maeve’s goal is to save money as she awaits her final exam results. Then, she’ll leave her small town, and the sadness surrounding her sister’s death, and go to London, where she dreams of studying journalism. Molloy gives Maeve’s friends distinct voices that match their personalities, and she enhances the complexity of Maeve’s mother by giving her both harsh and tender tones. The frequent countdown to exam results creates dramatic tension. The story is often hilarious, but violence is brought to the forefront in tragic flashbacks. A.L.C. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2022-08-31
A teenage girl comes of age working at a factory during the last days of the Troubles.

Maeve Murray has one goal in the summer of 1994: to get out of her small town in Northern Ireland and escape to London for university. But she won’t know whether that’s possible until she gets her exam results, and in the meantime, she and her two closest friends, Caroline Jackson and Aoife O’Neill, decide to earn money working at the local shirt-making factory. The factory, which is managed by smarmy, handsy, and distressingly handsome Englishman Andy Strawbridge, is a rare space where Catholics and Protestants are forced to coexist despite the constant threat of sectarian violence. For one summer, everything in Maeve’s life is on the brink of change: her education, her relationships with friends and family, and even the factory, a precarious social experiment vulnerable to both sectarian strife and “optimisation” that could crush workers from both factions. Gallen, who grew up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, reconstructs this era vividly. Her characters speak in dialect, but, more importantly, their understanding of the world is shaped by their experience of the Troubles. Maeve wishes to escape the sectarian environment in which she’s been raised while also viewing Protestants with suspicion, confusion, and, at times, lust. Gallen’s mastery of her protagonist’s psychology renders this muddle comprehensible, sympathetic, and, above all, funny. Truly humorous novels are hard to come by, but Gallen’s writing is full of genuine bite. Maeve shares her creator’s wit and insight: “[Tony] Blair looked like the sort of toothy creature you’d see in a Free Presbyterian church,” she reflects, “a man who believed way too hard in the wrong thing.”

A sensationally entertaining novel that’s deeper than it first appears.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175104708
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	11/29/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

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